


Nightmares and Daydreams

by darkness_prince_dan



Series: Darkness Trilogy [5]
Category: Phandom/The Fantastic Foursome (YouTube RPF)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Fluff and Angst, M/M, Mentions of Past Torture
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-08-28
Updated: 2015-08-28
Packaged: 2018-04-17 17:17:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,021
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4674932
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/darkness_prince_dan/pseuds/darkness_prince_dan
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The Light Lord now is a crowned ruler of the Republic but what is a ruler worth without any magic in a country where magic equals power?<br/>aka a follow-up oneshot of the main story line of the 'Darkness Trilogy'.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Nightmares and Daydreams

**Author's Note:**

> I know no one really cares for this universe besides me but I like writing fics for it so here we are...

The Parliament Palace of the Republic is a building of astounding architecture. It consists of four rings, one inside the other, between which gardens of various geographic regions grow. The garden between the outer and the second rings is dedicated to the woods of local variety; here pine trees, oaks and maples dominate providing shade for bushes or allowing the sunlight to reach the myriad of flowers in small clearings. The second garden between the second and third rings hosts the tropical variety from the Southern Continent; the heat and moisture here offer perfect conditions for humongous trees to grow and for vines to wrap around them never letting go, colours are vivid here: the green of the trees, the bright yellows, reds and purples of the flowers. The last garden situated between the third and the last rings is rather desert like, reminding of the wastelands of the Southern States; dunes here are plentiful, rocks and tumbleweeds all look alike and hundreds of succulents provide the only shade.

Every ring is connected by a glass encased pathway and the gardens are covered by glass domes. The walls of every ring are carved into marvellous bas-reliefs depicting stories of folklore and myths and legends of other cultures; marble seems to come to life with the artistry that it was sculpted. Hundreds of pillars support the inside and outside of every ring and they too are carved to show plants climbing and wrapping around them, no two are alike. At night the whole building bathes in the light of ice fire torches which give it a light bluish hue and during the day it stays as white as when it was first built.

When the Light Lord first saw it, he was left speechless. The Capital was already too big, too bright for him but the Palace… It seemed mammoth. The enormous spaces outside as well as inside could cover an area of a town by itself and the fact that it’s situated in the middle of the city was incomprehensible to him. Now, after the coronation, however, every time he has to come to this building, to walk through all the rings in order to reach the last one, it makes him sick. All the Lord can think about is the dark damp and never-ending dungeons beneath all the beauty and the grace of this building. His only thoughts revolve around the week he spent there being tortured and having his magic taken away. Sometimes the reminders are too much and he has to skip the meetings he himself called and get back to his fiancé as soon as possible.

This time is one of those but the Light Lord can’t escape; the matters his council need discussing are too important to leave for next week. So he stays and suffers through. Nevertheless, his mind wanders and focus is a tough task for him to achieve.

Seven days, he thinks. He spent there seven days without food, without virtually any water. He was beaten, flogged, not allowed to sleep and when he did, visions were implanted in his brain giving him hope only to be heartlessly shattered when he truly woke up. Most importantly, he lost his magic there. That’s the wrong word though. ‘Lost’. No, he didn’t  _lose_  it, it was brutally taken away by the people who were supposed to be his family. They flouted every possible rule of decency by violating him in such a way. And now he’s reminded of it every time he walks through the entrance of the outer ring, every time he takes a step towards the centre, every time he looks at the gorgeous bas-reliefs. It was ruined for him; not only the possibility to be astounded by this building but also the sanctity of what it stands for. It should represent the Republic, the unity, the righteousness, the overall good its government was supposed to be doing. It’s tainted now.

“Lord Philip?” a voice brings the Light Lord out of his daydreams.

The Lord lifts his head and looks at a member of his council. She’s dressed all in white as are all of them.  _Hypocrites_ , the word crosses the Lord’s mind but he doesn’t show his true emotions.

“Yes?” He asks raising his eyebrows.

The sun is too bright and the whole room is too bright. Everything’s too white, too pure. It’s too much. He wants to go back. He feels uneasy and Dan makes him feel better. The black walls of Noxvale help too. The Light Lord craves darkness and gloom.

“You have not voiced your opinion on this matter,” another council member says caressing his long beaded beard.

“On which matter exactly?” the Lord asks. Oh, they sure regret making him the ruler of this country.  _Focus, Phil_.

“The Light Keepers, Your Grace,” the woman speaks up again. Lady Loren, he thinks her name is Loren. Or is it Laura?

“Right,” the Lord nods his head. “The rebels.” There always seem to be rebels. There were rebels after he was arrested, there are rebels in Dan’s kingdom. Why is everybody so rebellious? Why can’t they be happy with the situation the way it is? He and Dan are actually trying to make everything better, there’s really no point in rebelling.

“What would you like to do with them?” Lady Loren/Laura questions. “They are extremely against your marriage to the Prince of Darkness. Their attacks have been increasing in violence. They must be dealt with. And swiftly.”

“What do you propose?” He responds with another question and by the way the council members look at each other he supposes that they’ve already voiced their opinions and he missed it all by being too occupied dreaming.

“Arrest them and trial them,” Nicholas suggests and the other six council members nod in agreement. “That would be the right thing to do.”

The  _right_  thing? Was it right of the other Light Lords to torture Phil? Was it right of them to not give him a trial? Why should he show mercy to anyone if none was shown to him?

Besides, those Light Keepers are just a group of anarchists. They don’t want the old order, they don’t want the union of the Republic and the Kingdom, they just don’t  _know_  what they want. The fools are running around murdering all who don’t agree with their cause. Well, Phil can fight fire with fire, he’s done playing nice.

“Kill them on sight,” he orders as malicious thoughts circle in his head. That’s been happening a lot more recently. He’s been fine the weeks after the rescue but since he’s started visiting the Palace it’s been more and more difficult for him to keep the dark thoughts out of his mind. And at this point he doesn’t really want to keep them out.

“Your Grace, are you sure?” Nicholas asks. The Lord’s council seems concerned. Such behaviour is quite unusual to him.

“Do I have to repeat myself? Are you all deaf?” The Light Lord nearly snarls at them and understands why Dan’s usually in a foul mood after his council meetings. Are these idiots so incapable of obeying orders? He should just get rid of them and declare this a dictatorship.

“No, Your Highness, we understood,” another woman, Lady Emily, says. The Lord knows her; she was one of his lecturers at the university, a highly educated woman and a real asset to the council. She doesn’t look pleased with his decision and Phil starts doubting himself. But that would do no good. He’s a leader, he has to stick to his choices so he says nothing as they start discussing another topic. It has something to do with taxes but the Lord once again spaces out.

He’s contemplating a more serious problem, one that has plagued him for over two months now. How can he get his magic back? He’s been to many a doctor and wizard and none could help, they all say it’s impossible. But how is he to rule a country without any magic? It’s been the norm for thousands of years for Light Lords to be able to cast spells. As far as Phil’s concerned, no one takes him seriously without this ability, they think him weak and not fit to run the country. Dan says that the commons love Phil and they don’t care for magic, that he’s brilliant without it and that he loves Phil all the same. What a load of bullshit is that. He needs magic, he feels vulnerable not being able to conjure up slivers of light which illuminate the whole room and burn anyone who touches them as per Phil’s command. Now the Lord has to use a sword to protect himself against possible harm. Everybody knows he’s shit at it, any twelve year old has had better training in sword fight than him.

The Light Lord clenches his fists in anger. If only he could avenge that foul act inflicted upon him, maybe then he’d rest easier. Maybe this is the root of all his dark thoughts. He’s finally had time to think it all over, what with the war happening previously or the worries about the coronation going smoothly, and it might be that the key to his peace of mind could be the gruesome deaths of his former friends, the other Light Lords. Alas, they’re lost in the wind; the previous rebels didn’t have enough brain to incarcerate them as soon as the government was overthrown.

“Your Majesty?” The lord with the beaded beard interrupts Phil’s musings and he comes back to reality.

***

The Prince of Darkness wakes up past midnight with the space next to him vacant. It’s only the beginning of summer but it’s already unbearably hot. The open window doesn’t exactly help. The night is still and the wind doesn’t bother to even rustle the curtains. Sounds are amiss. Only soft snores of a shadow wolf can be heard. Then a bird lands on a windowsill, its feet scrape the stone. The wolf lifts its head and blinks at it with its three glowing eyes as the bird jumps around for a bit. Moving slowly and noiselessly as only shadow wolves can, the animal slips off the bed and approaches the window. The bird stops, cocks its head to the side staring straight at the Prince, who’s now sitting in bed, and suddenly takes flight just as the wolf is about to chomp on the bird’s head. Annoyed, the wolf huffs and the Prince smirks.

“Better luck next time,” he says getting out of bed. He putts on a pair of skinny jeans and doesn’t bother with a shirt; Phil likes to stare at and trace the patterns light magic left on Dan’s body.

“Oh, come on,” the Prince rolls his eyes as he’s almost stepping through the door and the wolf stubbornly sits by the window not even intending to follow its master. “It’s not my fault you’re getting too old and too slow.”

The animal grumbles indignantly and clearly purposefully moves slower than usual. It passes the Prince not looking at him and turning its snout the other way.

“I was only joking, don’t get all moody on me,” the Prince of Darkness tells his wolf following after it.

They find him on the balcony of one of the tallest towers of the castle. Phil’s leaning on the railing and staring at the vast darkness of the Shadow woods. He’s wearing a t-shirt and pyjama bottoms; both garments belong to the Prince and he smiles flattered by that. A shadow wolf sits next to the Light Lord. Its eyes gleam pale blue and its fur glistens rich black in the light of the full moon. The other wolf joins it, rubbing their snouts in greeting.

The Prince approaches the Lord and wraps his arms around the other’s waist planting a kiss on his naked shoulder where the t-shirt fails to cover his skin. The Light Lord leans back into him and hums softly welcoming his presence. They stand in silence for a couple of minutes as the Prince kisses up and down his lover’s neck.

“I did something really bad,” the Light Lord finally whispers. It’s not like someone else will hear him, it just seems inappropriate to disturb the night.

“I’m sure it’s not as bad as you think,” the Prince assures him.

“You know the Light Keepers?” asks the Lord turning around.

“Yeah, the rebels who absolutely despise me, I’ve heard,” he shrugs a shoulder. “You said you’re taking care of them, I asked how, you said you’re treating with them, I said you can’t have tea parties with extremists, we got into a shouting match and you stormed off. It was a good night.”

“Idiot,” Phil rolls his eyes at Dan’s recount of one of their numerous fights recently; their views on political decisions rarely match.

“What about them?” The Prince asks sweeping the fringe off the Lord’s forehead.

“I ordered to kill them,” the Light Lord admits quietly, he’s tracing Dan’s marks lightly with his fingertips and biting his lip. “All of them,” he adds, “without proper trial or anything.”

“Alright,” the Prince says slowly, astonished. “You know that’s not how this relationship works, right? You’re supposed to be the good one, the one who values human life.”

The Light Lord rolls his eyes and steps away from the Prince of Darkness. He runs a hand through his hair and then looks at his fiancé.

“Maybe I got fed up with being the good guy all the time. Maybe I don’t want to be treated like shit for always settling with others and not doing what  _I_  want,” he says grudgingly.

“So you want to kill them all?” Dan questions furrowing his brows all confused.

“That’s not what I’m saying,” the Lord huffs starting to walk back and forth, restless. “I don’t know what I’m saying,” he stops and leans on the banister crossing his arms. “It’s just… After the coronation everyone expects me to be this competent ruler who knows all the answers, who rules justly and whose decisions are final and non-debatable. They expect so much of me and I don’t even  _feel_  like me,” he runs a hand through his hair. “I can’t explain it… After all the commotion of war and impending death settled down, I started thinking what use am I to the Republic if I lost the only thing that makes me seem powerful? If I had my magic, my  _light_  magic, maybe these dark thoughts wouldn’t disturb me, maybe I’d be better at ruling,” the Lord bites his lip and looks away into the darkness.

“What dark thoughts?” Dan asks concerned.

“I don’t know,” Phil sighs. “I used to daydream about us living happily ever after and now all I can think about is that I want revenge against the Light Lords. And not, like, justice. I want them to suffer like I am, I want their magic ripped away from them. And that’s not me, Dan. I’m afraid that after they took my magic, I was left with this darkness and it’s consuming me and I have no idea what to do. It doesn’t help that I have to go to the Palace every few days and relive it over and over. The reminders are too much and the nightmares… It all just keeps adding up and what if I’m gonna wake up one day buried under all the evil and I won’t be  _me_  anymore?” He asks desperate, his eyes are shining with unshed tears and he looks frenzied. So the Prince does the only thing he can think of and hugs the Lord close to himself.

When the Prince of Darkness considers his lover’s words now, the events of the past month clear up. Phil has been extremely moody, expressing anger in situations he usually wouldn’t, fighting with Dan about the smallest things, making irrational decisions and being too hot-headed. Also, the nightmares have returned full force. There’s not a night when the Prince doesn’t wake up to the Lord tossing in bed and mumbling or just plain screaming. It has not been an easy month. Could all this have been triggered by Phil visiting the place of his torture? Or is it really because he lost his magic? How on earth could they fix it if it’s the latter one?

“My birthday’s next week,” Dan mumbles out of nowhere into Phil’s hair.

The Lord lifts his head and looks at him incredulous.

“Really? I open up my heart to you and you’re concerned about your birthday?” The Light Lord does not try to keep the venom out of his voice.

“Just listen,” the Prince says. “I want you to stay away from the Palace for a month as my birthday present from you. Shut up,” he orders when Phil’s about to protest. “You will do that and I’ll bring your councillors here every day if you want to. If that place is what makes you feel this way, then this is the only solution.”

“Dan, you don’t have to do all this for me –”

“Did I say that I’m done talking?” The Prince asks raising an eyebrow and the Lord rolls his eyes. “Starting tomorrow, the best sages of each city in the Kingdom will be obliged to travel to Noxvale and they will help you get your magic back.”

“That’s impossible, you know that,” Phil argues.

“Where’s your positive attitude? Am I the one who’ll have to take on this responsibility? You know I’m not fit for that,” Dan chastises him lightly, jokingly.

“Alright,” the Lord agrees weakly. “Thanks,” he murmurs and plants a soft kiss on the Prince’s lips.

“Mmm,” the Prince of Darkness hums and softly nips at his lover’s bottom lip. “No problem, love. There had to come a day when I’m taking care of you instead of the opposite.”

_***_

_He’s standing in the middle of the cell with his hands raised and in chains. At the same time, he’s also standing in the corner of the cell watching himself. The chained him is beaten up, weak and hardly keeping himself upright. He sways slightly mumbling some nonsense, his eyes start closing and he opens them immediately as if something bad will happen if he’s not awake._

_The door opens up. Bluish light illuminates the cell and him for a second making him glow blue. Then a person steps in; their hood is up, the sleeves of their robe hide their hands, if they had a scythe Phil would think Death has come to claim him. Slowly, oh so slowly, the person raises a hand and the hood is gone. The chained Phil lifts his head._

_“Dan,” he whispers hoarsely, recognising the person._

_“I have a gift for you,” Dan smiles. He rummages in his sleeves and pulls out an item Phil’s not seen in years. It’s a collar. It’s white, hundreds of miniscule diamonds on it sparkle in all the colours of the rainbow and the silver clasp is intricately carved with various symbols. The accessory is as stunningly beautiful as it is dangerous; it’s power to steal magic is notorious in the world of possessors of that ability._

_“No,” both Phils gasp in horror._

_The chained Phil starts thrashing, yanking on his shackles and pleading for mercy. Meanwhile, the watcher Phil struggles to reach him and stop it from happening. But he can’t move, he can’t even speak. Dan’s smile is malicious as he moves towards the chained Phil and opens up the clasp of the collar._

“Shit,” Phil murmurs to no one in particular as he blinks awake.

His breathing is heavy, heartbeat erratic and skin clammy with sweat. The Lord lifts a hand to brush away his hair and then sits up. The room of the Prince of Darkness is the same as usual; morning sunlight is streaming through the open windows, faint shouting of officers training in the courtyard of the castle can be heard and the shadow wolves are lazily lying on the floor near the windows, their black furs easily soak up the sunlight.

“Hey,” Phil hears from the other side of the room and turns his head to see Dan coming from the bathroom, he’s got a towel wrapped around his waist but it’s slowly slipping away and revealing his hipbones.

“Hi,” the Lord answers admiring his fiancé and smiling to himself.

“My eyes are up here,” Dan clicks his fingers and points to his face.

“Your eyes are pretty,” Phil says directing his glance to Dan’s face, “but I was enjoying that view too.”

“Idiot,” Dan murmurs grinning, he turns his back to Phil and opens up the wardrobe to find something that would suit his mood, maybe he’ll wear black today.

“I have the morning free,” the Lord says with a glaringly obvious meaning behind the statement.

“Well, I don’t, sorry, maybe next time,” the Prince responds dropping the towel after finding the necessary black garments.

Phil pouts but Dan can’t see it so it doesn’t earn him much. So he decides to slip out of bed soundlessly and tip toe to the Prince’s side. He hugs his lover from behind as the other is buttoning up his jeans and kisses the black marks on his left shoulder.

“Your convincing technique is extraordinary as always,” Dan says as he turns around and plants a kiss on Phil’s lips. “But I’m meeting with an ambassador from the Southern Continent and we need to discuss the details of our trade.”

“Wow,” the Lord says impressed. “It’s nearly impossible to make the king of the Continent even  _read_  proposal letters and you’ve actually got a representative sent here. Did you threaten him with plague?” He asks only half joking.

“I didn’t,” the Prince rolls his eyes and then smirks. “However, I might have appeared in the bedchamber of the king and said how easy it is for me to wander around his house undetected. So we reached an understanding.”

“I’m sure your councillors were real happy with such a plan,” Phil shakes his head disapprovingly; Dan’s approach to politics is truly something else.

“Who says I told them anything?” The Prince asks grabbing a t-shirt and pulling it over his head.

“Of course,” the Lord nods his head pursing his lips and crossing his arms.

“What?” Dan lifts an eyebrow.

“You never really listen to the advice of your council, you don’t brief them on your political moves and you don’t tell them what you’re doing; it just makes me wonder how will we rule together if you’re off doing gods know what,” Phil shrugs a shoulder.

“Oh, don’t exaggerate,” Dan grabs his leather jacket and shrugs it on. “You make it seem like I’m doing whatever I want when in reality I’m taking care of the future of my country, soon to be our country.”

“Alright,” the Lord responds. “So does this deal with the Continent include the Republic?”

“Yeah, sure,” Dan looks at himself in the mirror on the door of the wardrobe and fluffs his hair.

“Then why didn’t you tell anything about it to me, to the ruler of the Republic?” Phil asks getting more and more annoyed with Dan.

“Because it’s not a done deal,” the Prince explains nonplussed and rather oblivious to Phil’s changing mood. “The king might have changed his mind or something; I visited him last month, something might have gone wrong.”

“Great then, thanks,” Phil murmurs bitterly and turns around to stomp to the bathroom when Dan catches his hand.

“By gods, Phil,” he says as if talking to a child who behaves irrationally. “Don’t make this a bigger deal than it is.”

“Do you even have any idea how long I’ve been trying to contact the king of the Continent?” Phil questions slipping his hand out of Dan’s. “For three bloody years, Dan, since I was elected into the Republic’s Lord Council. And you just stride there, intimidate him and don’t even ask me or at least your council how  _threatening_  a fucking  _king_  will affect your country and mine as well.”

The Prince glares at the Light Lord clearly wanting to retort with something malicious. Phil lifts an eyebrow daring him to do so. But the Prince of Darkness swallows his pride understanding his mistake and his gaze shifts to the floor.

“I’m sorry,” he says. “I was wrong. I should have informed you on such an important decision.”

“Yeah, you should have,” Phil nods in agreement but he’s still sulking and Dan rolls his eyes in response.

“And I’ll work on it and consult you on every aspect of my life from this point on,” the Prince adds to make Phil happy.

The Lord hesitates for a few seconds just to tease the Prince but eventually smiles.

“Now that’s a proper apology,” he responds and kisses the other’s lips gently. “Go,” the Lord says pushing the Prince away. “You’ll be late for your super important meeting.”

“We’re good?” The Prince of Darkness questions keeping Phil’s hand on his chest.

“We’re good,” Phil repeats grinning. “Go,” he orders and the Prince obeys, one of his wolves jumps up and follows its master.

Today’s the third day of Dan’s decree for the sages to come and help Phil with his magic problem. Phil’s been meeting them all and so far zero progress has been made. So when in the afternoon the Lord gets a message to meet another one of the sages, he goes as slowly as possible to prolong the not meeting part. He knows it’ll be more if-only-you-pay-me-a-shit-ton-of-money-I’ll-get-your-magic-back bullshit from the best of scammers thus he doesn’t expect much.

The sage waits for him in one of the many drawing rooms of the castle. She’s dressed all in black, she’s got rings on each finger and ancient marks on her cheeks and forehead. The shadow wolf that for the past month has been shadowing Phil all around the castle if Dan doesn’t require otherwise apparently instantly recognises the woman and trots to sit in front of her.

“Hello, darling,” the sage says and the wolf cocks its head to the side blinking its three glowing eyes.

“Good afternoon,” Phil greets the sage as he comes closer too.

The woman stands up saying a ‘Your Majesty’ and curtsying. Phil just awkwardly nods thrown off balance by the title since he’s not really used to those yet and motions for her to sit back down.

“You do not remember me?” The sage asks as the Lord is intently staring at her face, he knows that something is familiar but he can’t place her.

“Sorry, no,” he says a bit confused. The wolf plops itself down by Phil’s side and the Lord starts threading its fur as the animal purrs softly. “How did we meet?”

“I was the one who gave Prince Daniel his wolves when he was eight; you were there with him which was most unusual,” she explains watching him carefully.

“Oh, right,” Phil smiles remembering. “Dan was so scared to go alone into the Shadow woods at night that he talked me into going with him. Everybody was really surprised when he came back with two pups.”

“And do you remember why he got two instead of one?” The sage questions.

“Because one of them is mine,” Phil bites his lip. “Because I had the ability to perform dark magic but I refused. I said that I want nothing to do with it and that I choose light magic over dark. But my pup was already brought out of the Void and it would’ve died without a master so Dan took him for me.”

“That is almost right,” the woman says and Phil frowns, he’s pretty sure that’s  _right right_  and not just  _almost right_. But he doesn’t get a chance to protest since she continues talking. “You still have the ability to perform dark magic if you wish since only the light one was taken away from you. Or you can create a magic of your own.”

“I don’t think that’s how it works,” the Lord says doubtfully. If he could just create magic, he would’ve done that long ago. And wouldn’t others be all over it? Such a thing would surely be known among the possessors of magic.

“For others, no,” the sage replies as if reading his mind. “But for you it is possible. And I can teach you how.”

After the last part it all clicks in Phil’s brain. Of course, she could teach him if he paid a hefty sum. Other sages have already pitched this plan to him. So the Lord reclines in his chair with his crushed dreams cursing himself for having stupid hopes and waiting for her to name the price. However, the woman seems to be awaiting his answer; Phil humours her and plays along.

“What’s the price?” He asks rather disappointed that such a high rank having sage would stoop so low; then again, the war was difficult for everybody.

“The price?” The woman repeats narrowing her purple eyes at him; she looks rather offended. “I do not wish money for my help.”

“Then what do you wish for?” The Lord asks icily, he’s getting annoyed. He’s done being fooled by these money seeking leeches. After this meeting is done, he’ll tell Dan to get them all out of here and stop pretending like there’s anything to be done about this.

“I simply wish to aid you in solving the problem you seem to have,” the sage answers his question. “You do not think that the solution is real but it is. I can help you get your magic back,” she says it so convincingly that Phil gives in thinking it couldn’t be worse than what he already went through.

***

The castle of Noxvale is abuzz. Lords and ladies from all around have gathered to celebrate the 24th birthday of the Prince of Darkness. No one particularly cares about His Majesty; most of the guests are here because it’s mandatory to show respect on such occasion, others because there’s free alcohol and some are in dire need of a wealthy suitor to help them with their ever-growing debts which are a result of a lavish lifestyle that they can’t shake off even though they’re positively broke and that is why they’ve borrowed money from some loan shark who now threatens their life if they don’t pay back as soon as possible. However, even the noble people belonging to the latter group are having more fun than the Prince himself. Amidst all the cheeriness of the drunken folk, the flirtatious glances between anyone and everyone and frantic dancing to some popular band, one person is brooding noticeably.

Extremely unhappy and absolutely bored, the Prince of Darkness stands in the darkest corner of the Black hall and strokes his wolf that’s sitting beside him. During the past three hours he had to greet and thank an innumerable crowd of annoying people thus now he’d gladly tell them all to fuck off to where they came from. Was it his sole decision, this ball would have never even been realised. He told as much to his councillors but they started yapping about his royal duties and traditions and all that nonsense so the Prince had to give up and agree to this arrangement and silently suffer. He dares not think about the feast during his wedding; it’ll be ghastly, he’s sure, what with the people coming from all around the continent.

The Prince’s demeanour changes drastically, however, when he sees his fiancé striding towards him with the second shadow wolf in tow. The Light Lord has changed his favourite white garments to royal blue ones as per request of the Prince because ‘come on, Phil, it’s my birthday and I had that ordered especially for you, you look really sexy in blue’, and the last part was totally not what made the deal for the Lord.

“Where the hell have you been?” The Prince asks the Light Lord when the latter approaches.

“Had to take care of some stuff,” the Lord smiles as he pecks the other on the lips in greeting.

“You do know I’m going to make you pay for making me talk to all these people alone?” Dan threatens with an innocent smile brushing away a strand of hair from Phil’s forehead.

“Oh, I’m counting on it,” Phil smirks and winks as his hand which was on the Prince’s waist goes way south.

“You kinky bastard, that’s not what I meant,” the Prince rolls his eyes but can’t help giggling.

“I’m quite sure that’s what you meant,” responds the Lord and pulls the other closer to himself leaving a soft kiss on his cheek and then trailing his lips across his jawline.

“Phil,” Dan whines looking at the crowd. “There are like five of those so called journalists here; someone will see us and it’ll be all over tomorrow’s papers.”

“That would be quite a scandal,” he whispers into the Prince’s ear not even intending to stop and nips on the lobe gently.

Dan smiles to himself. Phil’s been in better moods after he stopped visiting the Palace. Sure, it’s only been a little over a week but the Prince can already see that the true Phil is making a comeback. Especially since he started having top secret meetings about magic with one of the sages. The Prince of Darkness couldn’t have asked for a better birthday present.

“I’ve got a surprise for you,” the Lord says stepping back only slightly.

“Is it in my chamber?” Dan wiggles his eyebrows suggestively.

“That surprise can wait for later,” Phil replies smiling and takes Dan’s hand. “Come with me.”

They end up in the Shadow woods. The small clearing is dotted with bright red poppies and the summer breeze ruffles them along with the tall grass. There’s a crescent moon tonight, several billions of stars keep her company in the vast blackness. However, their luminescence is not enough to light a pathway for two stumbling men flanked by two shadow wolves. In order for them not to fall, the Prince of Darkness has produced a purple flame in his hand whose luminosity creates startling shades on everything it touches.

The Light Lord sits their group in the middle of the field. He’s facing the Prince and their knees are touching, the wolves are on either side of them in complete guard mode. The purple flame has vanished.

“You know how when you got your wolves the sage told us that I have darkness in me,” Phil begins staring at Dan in the dim light of the moon.

“Dark magic, not just darkness, huge difference,” Dan corrects him but Phil hardly pays that any mind.

“And that there are only a few people who have both light and dark in them,” he continues.

“I’m following you so far,” Dan nods.

“So because I have this whole spectrum in me, when they took my magic, they took only the purest expression of light because that’s what others have,” he stops for a second and Dan nods again assuring Phil that he understands. “This means that I have all the rest of the spectrum left and I can channel it to create my own magic.”

The Prince sits there in near darkness when the world lights up in pale blue. His eyes go wide as he sees that it’s all Phil. While he’s been talking, he drew some patterns on one of the wolves, his wolf, and those appeared on the animal illuminating all that is around. The blue prints sparkle and glimmer as the two lovers sit in silence, both smiling widely.

“Surprise,” Phil whispers.

Dan laughs out loud for no other reason but just because he’s happy for the other. He leans forward and captures Phil’s lips in a kiss. The blue dances behind their eyelids and soon dies down as the Light Lord loses his focus.


End file.
